NCAA Tournament: Winners and losers from seven rounds of mayhem

The Connecticut Huskies are not only an unlikely NCAA champion, they’re also one of the most difficult to categorize.

They don’t fit any of the models we’ve come to expect from the last team standing.

Despite their seed, the Huskies lack the Cinderella feel of an N.C. State or Villanova. (With four titles in the past 15 years, UConn is one of the game’s blue bloods.)

But at the same time, the Huskies weren’t a dominant team during the regular season (tied for third in a so-so league) and deserved the seed they got.

Nor were they in possession of a Lottery Pick-loaded roster that coalesced at just the right time. (It’s quite possible they won’t produce a first round pick in the upcoming draft.)

They didn’t finish with a flourish. They don’t have a Final Four-tested coach. They needed overtime to beat St. Joe’s in the round of 64.

They were a good team that got hotter and better by the round and took down the No. 1 overall seed (Florida), the popular pre-tournament pick (Michigan State) and the most talented roster (Kentucky).

There was no well-lighted path for their journey, no obvious historical parallel.

They are more outlier than anything.

Outlier and champion.

To the winners and losers …

Winner: Chaos. The combined seeds of Kentucky and Connecticut (15) was the highest in tournament history, and it’s not even close. (Previous high: No. 3 UConn vs. No. 8 Butler.) Add the fact that this was the first time both finalists were seeded lower than No. 3, and we have a new standard for Madness.

Loser: The regular season. The four-month, 30+ game season already had a relevance problem. With No. 7 and 8 seeds meeting for the title, it further erodes the game-in, game-out significance of the long haul from November to early March.

Winner: The Calipari method. So long as you can cope with the occasional NIT loss to Robert Morris, his recruit-the-one-and-dones approach has its benefits. BIG benefits. But how long will it last?

Loser: HoF’ers. Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino, Tom Izzo and Roy Williams have combined for 35 Final Fours and 10 titles. The best they could muster this year was one Elite Eight appearance (Michigan State).

Winner: The Commonwealth. Either Kentucky or Louisville has played for the title three consecutive years (and won two of the three).

Loser: Tobacco Road. For the first time since 1979, college basketball’s legendary hotbed was shut out of the Sweet 16.

Winner: The AP preseason poll. Based on returning and incoming talent, it’s arguably the most accurate predictor of tournament success. One of the top-two teams in the preseason poll has played for the title three years in a row (and won it twice).

Loser: Cinderellas. The early rounds were epic, but the closest we got to a Cinderella was a team from the six-bid Atlantic 10 (Dayton) in the Elite Eight.

Winner: Kevin Ollie. He pulled all the right strings in a dazzling six-game run and — let’s not forget the historical significance — became the first African American coach to win the NCAA title since Nolan Richardson in ’94. (For more on the state of black coaches in college basketball, go here.)

Loser: Mitch McConnell. The senate minority leader committed a gaffe that won’t soon be forgotten in his home state.

Loser: Advanced statistics. I’m a firm believer that there’s a place for efficiency ratings, etc. But the title game matchup should serve as a reminder that advanced stats are, like the RPI in the selection process, just one tool.

Winner: Greg Anthony. Sharp and insightful in his first season as a game analyst.

Loser: West Coast hoops. The Final Four drought turned six. Not since UCLA in ’08 have the leagues with a footprint in the Pacific Time Zone produced a national semifinalist.

Winner: The SEC. Two teams in the Final Four, a third in the Sweet 16 — not bad for a league that only sent three into the NCAAs.

Loser: The Big Ten. Another year without a national title (14 and counting). Plus, it had to watch the SEC’s success.

Winner: Pac-12. Had you told the conference on March 16 that it would send three teams to the Sweet 16, the response would have been overwhelmingly positive.

Loser: Pac-12. Had you told the conference on March 26 that none of the three teams in the Sweet 16 would reach the Final Four, the response would have been overwhelmingly subdued.

Winner: Aaron Harrison. The freshman hit more clutch shots than any player in recent memory — perhaps more than any player in tournament history.

Loser: Andrew Wiggins. Sure, he’s headed for riches and fame in the NBA and is the presumptive No. 1 pick. But his underwhelming performance against Stanford will define his legacy in Lawrence.

Saw this on Rule of Tree:
“…helicopter fan that crashes when real games don’t match fantasy. It is what it is…fantasy isn’t reality.”

Bummer!

Guest

The NCAA has become the NBA. Just tune in during the playoffs.

HoopP**p

I have an additional take on “winners and losers” from the perspective of which major conferences benefit most from the tourney selection process and which ones don’t deliver. There’s a definite pattern, but we knew that already, right? http://hooppoop.blogspot.com/

stephen rollins

Reality is a condition ignorant in most cases of history and possibility. Any leader ignores it, and craves it at his peril. I said that, btw, and its true.

Candid One

Ah, denial is a many-splendored thing, especially when accompanied by cliché sophistry.

Candid One

Hey, CJD, is that your way of admitting that you’re not getting any whatzit? Bummer!

Coach Johnny Dawkins

Please brother, I just piloted my team to a Sweet 16. I’m getting p*ssy like nobody’s business. Sheeit man, I had groupies in the NBA so I know how it rolls.

I was a bit concerned about my players being at prudish Stanford and the low groupie factor but they have video games so they’re okay. Still I think they’d play a lot better if they laid some pipe once in a while.

Coach Johnny Dawkins

stephen rollins

warning: infections of candida will only be cured by red meat consumption, preferably bear, moose or caribou. Please try harder, as this is my last reply to such an ignorant one who attempts to pretend not to be politically correct. Your last two posts bleat like something from the petting zoo.

maddogsfavsnpiks

When ignorance consorts with history, the offspring is Present Ignorance – lets nickname him, Iggy Pop ll – the genocidal child of confluent conditions under the rule of capital and christ, runs rampant with pride and privilege.

In short, Iggy is everywhere : In the news, on TV, interviewed by Rush on the radio, he’s in the garage, at your local hardware store, from white sands and red ants by blue waters near Mobile, to the polluted shores of San Diego’s armed bases (known as Santiago to original, good christian conquerors – good ol’ Saint Jim)..

It’s a subtler version of Orwell’s, “1984”, Iggy purrs, “kinder and gentler”.

Kind ? Gentle ? But what about the native first peoples of this continent, living here for thousands of years, then in a couple hundred years, massacred, wiped off the map – who knows how many ?; what of the Africans and Chinese kidnapped, millions overall, impressed into horrific death-trap ships, enslaved, shackled in chain gangs, beaten, hanged by lynch mobs; and the millions in Korea and southeast Asia, in Cambodia, Laos, Nam; and the thousands dying right now, just south of our borders; or what of the TERROR in Chile, September 11th, 1973 (28 years before 9/11/2001) ?? Why are all these dead of dark skin, someone asks impertinently ???

Let’s face it folks, Iggy doesn’t have to answer to anyone, he is armed to the teeth, somewhat arrogant and proud of his ignorance, because afterall, we play by his rules..

— Iggy Rules.

maddogsfavsnpiks

wow, 10 yr old girls ..i never suspected..

maddogsfavsnpiks

i’m trying…as hard as i can… i’ve read it over several times, tryin’ to determine.what you’re sayin….
… then tryin’ harder again..
“politically correct” ?..
Weren’t we talking about basketball fans, and by extension football fans..?

… n all i come up with is you’re callin’ Candid One “ignorant”

In fact you’re calling him an ignorant sheep…

i guess you feel that’s satire and humor.. hah ah ugh

BTW, by what he says (or she for all i know, here where there’s copious anonymous space) the words are obviously not the words of a stupid follower …and then i ponder..